Ever wonder what mighty potion Vikings fortified themselves with as they crisscrossed the oceans?  Or what Aristotle was swigging from his goblet?  The answer lies with the humble honeybee—and the drink it has helped produce for millenia.  Possibly the ancestor of all alcoholic beverages, mead has enjoyed audiences across history, from humble working folk to soldiers and pirates and even royalty.  Made with honey, water, and yeast, rather than fruit, mead resides in its own category of alcoholic beverage.  Even the meads that are flavored with a variety of fruit are not considered wines.  Chinese pottery vessels dating from 7000 B.C.E. suggest evidence of mead fermentation that predates both wine and beer.  The first batch of mead was probably a chance discovery:  Early foragers likely drank the contents of a rainwater-flooded beehive that had fermented naturally with the help of airborne yeast.  Once knowledge of mead production was in place, it spread globally, and was popular with Vikings, Mayans, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans alike.  Amanda Marsteller   https://www.liquor.com/articles/10-facts-about-mead/ 

In mixed forests, each species accesses different sources of nutrients from the others, leading to higher yields overall.  And those thicker stems are made mostly of carbon.  Mixed forests are also often more resilient to disease by diluting populations of pests and pathogens, organisms that cause disease.  Darwin's prescient observation is tucked away in chapter four of his 1859 famous book On the Origin of the Species.  Studies of this "Darwin effect" have spawned vast ecological literature.  Rob MacKenzie, Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of Birmingham and Christine Foyer, Professor of Plant Sciences, University of Birmingham.  This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.  Read the original article.  https://www.sciencealert.com/a-150-year-old-note-from-darwin-is-changing-how-we-plant-forests   

The original meaning of drop a dime is to secretly report a lawbreaker to the police, to snitch on a fellow criminal, to anonymously betray a criminal partner.  The term drop a dime first appeared in detective novels in the 1920s-1930s.  The idiom drop a dime conjures the image of someone putting a dime in a payphone to call the police and betray or “rat out” a criminal.  Informants used payphones because short phone calls could not be traced, especially without prior warning of the incoming phone call.  Even though payphones have passed out of usage, this meaning of the idiom does not seem to have waned.  Drop a dime is an American expression, related phrases are drops a dime, dropped a dime, dropping a dime.  Interestingly, the term drop a dime has also evolved into an American basketball term, dropping dimes, which means giving an assist on a play.  Also, the expression is increasingly seen in American football to mean to throw a pass accurately.  https://grammarist.com/idiom/drop-a-dime/ 

A car that's very maneuverable is said to turn on a dime (it can make sharp, precise turns).  One who says life turns on a dime may have in mind that events in a person's life can reverse themselves quickly.  https://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/41/messages/786.html

HOW TO MAKE SELF-RISING FLOUR  For each cup of flour, whisk together with 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder and ¼ teaspoon of salt.  Make sure to whisk all of these ingredients together well so that the baking powder and salt are both evenly distributed within the flour.  Robyn Stone  https://addapinch.com/how-to-make-self-rising-flour/ 

argot (plural argots)  noun  A secret language or conventional slang peculiar to thieves, tramps and vagabonds.  Synonyms:  cant, jargon, slang  The specialized informal vocabulary and terminology used between people with special skill in a field, such as between doctors, mathematicians or hackers.  Synonym:  jargon  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/argot

Argot (plural Argots)  noun  An inhabitant or resident of Argos.

Argos (plural Argoses)  noun  A city in the Peloponnese, Greece.  (Greek mythology) The dog of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey.  A town in Indiana; named for the city in Greece.  A river in Murcia, Spain; flowing from Caravaca de la Cruz into the Segura at Calasparra.  (Greek mythology)  Alternative form of Argus (many-eyed servant of Hera)  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Argos 

Pillow-Cat Books is the first animal themed bookshop in New York.  Located in the East Village, it is small, green, and filled with used, new, vintage and antique books of all types and in all languages.  We have books about art, photography, design, fashion, and literature—as well as comics and, of course, children’s favourites.  The only common denominator:  an animal or animal character must be present.  https://www.pillowcatbooks.com/pages/about-pillow-cat-books 

We opened a few weeks ago (in mid September 2021).  Once we are properly settled in, we will begin to host all kinds of events:  story time for children and animals, animal fancy dress contests, book clubs, signings and readings for and by humans and animals, among other things!  https://www.pillowcatbooks.com/pages/events-special-projects 

one-armed bandit (plural one-armed bandits)  (originally US, gambling) A gaming machine having a long arm-like handle at one side that a player pulls down to make reels spin; the player wins money or tokens when certain combinations of symbols line up on these reels.  Alternative form:  one-arm bandit   Hypernyms:   fruit machine, poker machine, pokie, pokie machine, slot machine https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/one-armed_bandit#English 

The American engineer Charles Fey, who invented the slot machine that made automatic payouts, died November 10, 1944.

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2454  November 10, 2021